HP to cut jobs and ditch products in restructure

HP will cut 27,000 jobs and ‘rationalise’ its product line-up as apart of a two year long restructuring process that will “simplify business processes, advance innovation and deliver better results for customers, employees and shareholders.”

The 27,000 jobs represent a full eight per cent of the HP workforce globally. AP reports the lay-offs are the largest in the company’s 73-year history.

The overall restructure will save HP around US$3.5 billion — money which will be reinvested in research and development, with the company investing in “innovation and differentiation” in printing and PCs, as well as emerging areas.

Also mentioned in HP’s media release were savings from “non-headcount cost reductions” including “SKU and platform rationalization”: a reduction in the number of products and product variants offered to resellers. HP currently offers its 10 notebook and 13 PC products with a range of CPU, RAM and hard drive options — at a total of 21 PC variants and 22 notebook variants, the restructure would likely see this number minimized.

This process is also likely to impact HP’s Imaging and Printing Group — the company’s current printing line-up spans 123 single- and multi-function laser and inkjet printers.

HP’s earnings release notes that the future of the Compaq brand is not safe. The company is conducting an ‘asset impairment analysis’ to determine the true value of the Compaq trade name — in financial jargon, an impaired asset is one worth less in the market than a company’s balance sheet states.

An HP spokesperson told The Verge that HP will dissassociate the Compaq brand from the HP name in the US, and use it on a discrete line of budget PCs. Since its absorption into HP in 2002, the Compaq name has been used in the US on a range of ‘HP Compaq’ products. In Australia, HP runs the Compaq brand under its own name and sells budget Compaq-branded Presario notebooks and PCs.

The screen was particularly good. It is bright and visible from most angles, however heat is an issue, particularly around the Windows button on the front, and on the back where the battery housing is located.

My first impression after unboxing the Q702 is that it is a nice looking unit. Styling is somewhat minimalist but very effective. The tablet part, once detached, has a nice weight, and no buttons or switches are located in awkward or intrusive positions.

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